Board of Aldermen President calls for city to adopt his crime-fighting plan

ST. LOUIS – St. Louis Board of Alderman President Lewis Reed is calling on the city to adopt a crime-fighting plan he says has cut crime up to 50 percent in other cities where it's been used.

He says the plan once called Boston Ceasefire has the backing of the Justice Department.

Reed says a lot of groups here agree with him that's it's a better way to go than what we're doing now.

Part of the plan calls for reaching out to gang members and known troublemakers to let them know that the pressure is going to be turned up on them if they don't straighten up. Social programs would then be made available to get them jobs. They would also be able to recommend the program to others responsible for trouble to get them to turn their lives around too.

Reed says he has the St. Louis Public Safety Director on his side in backing the program as well as social service organizations, activists’ groups, and other elected officials.